(banner picture: [Doraemon v1, pp.78-79, by Fujiko F Fujio, published by Shogakukan English Comics])
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“Alright, so this manga stuff seems pretty interesting, and I’ve found some titles which seem neat but they haven’t been translated into English yet… I don’t know much Japanese, but I’d like to be able to read those untranslated titles one day. What should I do? Is there anything in the middle that can help me improve? 🤔”
Whereas the usual volume of manga translated into English only contains English text with latin letters, and the original volume of Japanese manga contains only Japanese text with kanji and kana characters, bilingual manga includes both the original Japanese text and English-translations on the same pages, which allows readers to view characters’ dialogue and story narration in both languages (Another term for bilingual is ‘parallel text’)
It’s like a having a Rosetta stone in the palms of your hands.
Unfortunately, bilingual manga are typically not stocked on the shelves of public libraries (at least the ones in my local areas). Although this makes sense given that a library’s stocked books need to be affordable, have high circulation potential, and be available from suppliers, I nevertheless believe that having a few bilingual volumes of manga available to borrow would be appreciated by any reader who enjoys the format.
Since commencing my Library course(s), I have obtained way too many books… including some really cool copies of bilingual manga, which are shown below. I guess this page is a bit of a show(-off) and tell haha. Notice that Japanese text is included in the gutters of the pages of the below volumes, and English text is contained in the panels’ speech bubbles.
Doraemon [Doraemon v1, by Fujiko F Fujio, published by Shogakukan English Comics]
Intended audience: All ages/Kodomo (Children)
^No age rating is included on the front or back covers, but this is not much of a problem since the content is appropriate for all ages.
Since Doraemon is a kodomo/kids’ title, the Japanese text is simpler in both grammar and vocab, and much of the kanji is replaced by easier-to-read kana.
Ghost in the Shell [The Ghost in the Shell, by Masamune Shirow, published by Kodansha Bilingual Comics]
Intended audience: Mature readers (18+)
^Unfortunately, no age rating is included on the front or back covers, which is a severe problem since GiTS contains strong language, violence, and nudity.
In line with the intended mature audience of GiTS, the Japanese text is abundant with complicated kanji characters.
Tbh I don’t know where to buy bilingual manga from retail outlets and have never seen a bilingual tankoubon sold at a major English-title bookstore franchise like Dymocks, QBD, etc. ~~Not even Kinokuniya seems to list any bilingual manga for sale~~ CORRECTION: Kinokuniya does sell bilingual manga titles, but you need to search for “バイリンガル版” or “バイリンガルコミック“ in their catalogue rather than “bilingual manga”. The fact that they can only be found via a Japanese search query might be because they are created for native Japanese speakers to practice English, rather than for native English speakers to practice Japanese.
Bilingual Doraemon was sold to me secondhand by a FB marketplace seller; I bought Ghost in the Shell from eBay, and in both cases was really lucky that the books were not exorbitantly priced. Both Doraemon and Ghost in the Shell are also available brand new from Kinokuniya,
If you can find an affordable deal on bilingual manga, go for it! Sometimes Hondarake, a secondhand Japanese bookstore in the Sydney CBD, sells bilingual tankoubon (definitely worth a visit even if you’re not into manga because the owner is super friendly and cool). Otherwise, bilingual comics can probably be bought online from eBay, Amazon, CDJapan, JPBooks, etc.
Some bilingual book series/publication imprints and their respective titles include:
These titles are also complemented by Japanese-to-English (and vice versa) dictionaries and bilingual visual dictionaries
For a list of pros and cons that a library may experience when considering the acquisition of bilingual manga, see the below table.
| Pros for libraries 💚👍 | Cons for libraries🚩👎 |
|---|---|
| + Educational value - can be used to supplement a local school/uni language studies course or as material for literacy support sessions 👩🏫👨🎓 | - Potentially high acquisition cost relative to monolingual edition(s) 💸💴 |
| + High re-readability (compared to monolingual manga) 🔁 | - Limited availability from suppliers💨⛔ |
| + Faithful to original language rendition (by virtue of the original text, maybe not the translated text) 💯 | - Limited printing run (only a few volumes of a given series may be released in bilingual edition) 🙅 |
| + Can help to spur interest in learning another language 🤔💬 | - Illustrations may be smaller to accommodate two sets of texts 🤏 |
| + Can motivate readers to borrow other language-learning resources (e.g., 495.2 for Japanese language study) or look into reference material 🧠💖 | - Pages may be larger to accommodate two sets of texts = heavier and requires more shelf space 💪 |
| + High potential for interlibrary loaning since these titles are not commonly available 📥 📤 | - Text may be smaller than the non-bilingual counterparts 🔍 |
| - The reading level/difficulty (e.g., Lexile score) may not be available 🤷♂️ | |
| - The publisher may not include an age rating on the back cover 🔞 |
Some of these aspects may also apply to non-manga resources that have parallel text, such as Penguin’s Parallel Text series.
All depictions of manga used on this page belong to their original creators and respective copyright holders, but I captured and edited the photos myself unless stated otherwise. All instances of using copyrighted pictures or works in this blog are covered by the Copyright Act 1968, namely Division III Section 40 Fair dealing for purpose of research or study and Division III Section 41 Fair dealing for purpose of criticism or review.